Final Fantasy XIII-Sacrifice
by Exedeath
Summary: They call me a monster, a killer. Hunted by PSICOM, my world has been shattered and it's up to my companions and I to change our fate, or die trying. A fic spanning the first game, primarily through the eyes of my OC, Saren. Chapter four is up!
1. Chapter 1-Beginnings

**Hey everyone, so yeah this is the first chapter of my first story, "Final Fantasy XIII-Sacrifice". Please bear with me as I conquer my laziness to write this :P. I hope you all enjoy it; reviews and comments are welcomed and appreciated thanks!**

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**Beginnings**

_Cocoon - our own little paradise._

_Under the rule of the Sanctum we have long known peace and prosperity._

_Our lives were protected by our fal'cie leaders, sheltered and kept safe._

_But such safety was broken, with the discovery of a hostile fal'cie._

_Pulse - the unknown world spread fear among our kind, we sought guidance in our leaders._

_The fal'cie, in their haste let upon a curse among those chosen by destiny._

_L'cie – humans tasked by the fal'cie to fulfil their needs in the form of a focus._

_Upon completion, l'cie are gifted with eternal life, failure provides a fate worse than death._

_Sacrifice, Redemption, Ascension_

_After thirteen days, those chosen shall come together and rewrite fate._

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"Then I quit"

I raised my attention to this woman, I had noticed her speaking with one of the PSICOM soldiers and had taken an interest, apparently she was Guardian Corps but "resigned" and volunteered for the purge. As interesting as it was I focused my attention on my current situation. Here I was being prepared to be exiled for the apparent safety of cocoon. Not what I had initially planned but logically I have no choice.

"You don't look ready to go quiet into that good night"

"You want quiet, you'd better take the next train".

I ended my train of thought, the woman from before had ended up behind me, talking to a man. I turned my head, analyzing the two behind me.

The man looked to be around middle-aged, had dark skin and black hair styled in an afro. I noticed the two pistols holstered at his legs but paid little attention as I quickly shifted my vision to the woman.

She had long pink hair, flowing down to one side. My eyes wandered as I analyzed her small frame. I trailed further down to her slender legs, taking in her full appearance. She looked around my age, if I had to guess I'd say around 20 years old. I couldn't help but notice how attractive she was, her pale skin perfectly complementing her pink hair.

The man spoke, snapping me to attention, "Hey you heard that too right?"

I was met with a piercing glare from the woman. Her blue eyes staring me down, analyzing me. She felt akin to a predator, scoping out her prey ready to strike. I quickly returned the glare as I turned around to speak, "I heard that this one is planning something yes."

"Er yeah that" said the man, clearly confused at the confrontation happening. "Well I want in, I am not ready to be sent out by these insane guardsmen" said the man.

"Likewise" I replied, still engaging the woman in a silent battle. "What do you have in mind?" I asked her as I turned around to move up the line.

"Just follow my lead", she replied curtly. "And don't get in my way"

"Yeah alright" The man replied with a sigh as we slowly moved up the line.

As we moved in silence I started thinking, what could she possibly have in mind? Escaping the purge involves us dealing with the soldiers. Taking on an entire train of PSICOM soldiers was practically suicide, aside from that what would her motive be? Assuming we did dispatch them, what then? This barely made any logical sense. I kept moving forward, pondering my decision. I had no other options so I suppose this is going to have to do. We kept moving forward until I approached the PSICOM soldier directing us.

"Please hand me your personal belongings sir". He finished that sentence with a crack in his voice as I smirked and handed him three slim metal knives from beneath my shirt. Afterwards I handed him my sheath, containing my precious rapier.

"Be careful with that." I barked as the soldier fumbled with my things. It was evident that this one was green. Recruit or not though I don't want my rapier getting damaged.

I passed into the further processing, getting outfitted with purge robes and led to a seat on the train. Shortly thereafter the man and woman followed, being led towards me. They took their seat and we sat in silence. Five or ten minutes passed, others got on the train and after everyone was settled in, the train started.

"So what now soldier girl?" the man asked, worry clear in his voice.

"Keep quiet" the woman replied, "Now can either of you fight well?"

"Not up-close" the man answered, "My bones can't handle as much anymore".

"And you?" The woman asked me.

"I can handle myself yes, what do you have in mind?"

"I'll need you to take out some guards; we'll make our way through the train towards our weapons then go from there."

I replied with a nod, creating outcomes as I sat. The woman was a soldier and I did have combat training but survival still seemed unlikely. I noticed the train pass into the Hanging Edge and a soldier walked in. The woman nudged me slightly and I gave a slight nod in response.

"You serious?" said the man.

"Shush" I whispered to him, he meant well but this was not the time.

"Best of luck" he said with a sigh as I sat in anticipation.

The soldier was inspecting everyone. I assumed that once he approached us the woman would spring into action. As he did the woman jumped, with me in tow.

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**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2-Progress

**Hello again, Here's Chapter 2, Enjoy!**

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In what seemed like an instant the woman jumped over the soldier and undid our bindings. As I regained my composure I set my sights on the soldier, now aiming at the woman .I snapped his neck with ease, looking up to see the woman dispatch two more guards.

"Let's go", she barked at me as she handed me a gun and sprinted through the door.

As we entered, a soldier charged at us. The woman kicked him, sending him flying towards the end of the train car as I shot at two other soldiers, blood spurting from their uniforms.

The hiss of the doors opening signified more guards from both sides. I found myself back-to-back with the woman, as if on instinct.

"Get down", she yelled as I heard a familiar snap.

I rolled to the side behind cover and raised my head to see the woman fly to the far side of the train car, slamming against a soldier. She was using a personal Grav-Con Unit, a PSICOM invention used for troops jumping in from high altitudes. Apparently the woman has taken a more combat oriented approach to this. I looked over to see her slam into yet another soldier, spinning around and shooting soldiers simultaneously. It was quite impressive, take out all these guards. I thought of it as odd seeing as she was just Guardian Corps.

"Come on", she commanded as we ran through the next door, into what I realised was the armory. I instantly scoped out my rapier and quickly reclaimed them. I heard a door open and saw the man and several others walk through, all with weapons in hand.

"They all want to fight", the man said, looking exhausted with all the weapons he was carrying.

"Good for them", the woman replied, as she drew her weapon from before, a simple gunblade though I imagined that in her hands it would be extremely deadly.

The woman opened the window of the armory and looked out. I peered through and noticed that although we were in the Hanging Edge, the place had become a battlefield. I noticed three PSICOM bioweapons fly past us, some bird-like creatures that PSICOM had synthetically altered to use a weapons.

"Give me that", the woman said to the man as she grabbed the RPG he was holding and took aim. She fired a shot, which hit one of our pursuers dead-on, destroying it. She fired again, missing and hitting part of the train track. I noticed one of the bioweapons charging up what seemed to be a laser of sorts. It fired along the tracks, moving upwards and taking out another Purge train ahead of us.

Suddenly, our train came to a screeching stop, sending us staggering onto the floor. There were loud crashes and crunches, as part of the train was hauled out by what looked to be like a metallic white scorpion tail. I looked up to see the woman jumping up towards our attacker, muffled shouts from the man. I drew my rapier and clumsily followed up to the woman.

I was met with the woman in a combat stance, and our attacker revealed to be a Manasvin Warmech. I ran random outcomes through my head as I prepared myself for battle but was interrupted by the man staggering out of the train. As he finally began to stand, the mech flew up into the air and landed with a thud, knocking the man on his back.

"Hey hey let's be rational now!" Expressing his doubt as the mech swiped its arm. I ducked under its attack, looking to see the woman backflip over it.

"They're sending in the big guns now, what do we do?" the man asked with a grunt as he rose to his feet, pistols in hand.

"Watch and learn, you ready?" The woman asked me as I readied myself in my combat stance.

"Any ideas on how to do this?" I asked the woman as we dodged another swipe from the mech.

"Just dodge and and attack", she replied, demonstrating as she spun around an attack from the mech and slashed its arm, revealing wires and machinery. I began the same process, focusing on the other arm while the man shot wildly at the mech. After some time the mech roared and flew back, landing on the front of the train.

"Not so tough now, huh?" The man taunted as we fell back from the mech. The mech began charging it's arms, preparing for an attack as I defensively stepped back.

"Hey that wasn't like a challenge now all right?" Said the man as he held up his pistols in a defensive manner. The mech roared as it began lifting up the train, destroying it in the process. I turned and sprinted towards the back of the train, swerving as the train car we were on was thrashed about. the woman jumped in front of me and began grinfing on the rail of the train car, backflipping towards as she jumped off. I quickly followed her route, turning as I landed to see the man stumbling on the train car as It was heaved upwards by the mech.

"Jump!" the woman yelled as the man began falling over. He jumped towards us, landing with a thud on his face.

"This thing just won't give up", the man said with a sigh as he lazily rose to his feet, the mech landing in front of us ready to strike. The woman and I instantly charged, repeating our previous strategy against the mech. After repeatedly attacking the mech, it roared with defeat and exploded off the side, plunging into the abyss of the Hanging Edge.

"We did it", the man said with a sigh as I sheathed my weapon, the woman doing the same.

"Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, Soldier?" The man asked. "I mean you are Sanctum aren't you?" "What're you doing trying to stop the purge?" "Why don't you tell me that?" The man kept asking questions, apparently trying to make sense of things. He did raise a good point. This woman was clearly an experienced soldier, former Guardian Corps. Her skill was much higher than any Guardian Corps solder I had seen. Clearly her reasons were personal.

"I _was_ a soldier" she replied coldly, jumping down onto the highway. I followed her down, with the man slowly tailing along. As we traversed the highway we were met with a few PSICOM soldiers and bioweapons. We quickly dealt with any resistance and continued on. As we met the end of the highway, the woman -snapped, her Grav-Con Unit activating.

"Hey woah don't leave, you're my ticket out of here!" The man cried, jumping onto the woman, preventing her from leaving.

"Let go!" The woman yelled as she slapped the man to the ground. The woman began snapping again but to no Unit her unit was damaged.

"You, do you have a spare Unit?" The woman asked me.

"No sorry", I replied, not sure as to why I was apologising to this woman. I had established that she thought of the man and I as expendable, evident by her attempt to leave just now. Any sort of interaction up to now was either confrontational or simple answers. I cursed my politeness for now, making a note to "fix" it later.

"Hey, that might get us across, right there!" Said the man, pointing to an elevator that would take us across. Surely it would be crawling with PSICOM but we had no other options.

"Right?" The man asked me, looking up at me.

"Looks like it", I replied walking towards the controls

"Leave it to me!" The man yelled as he ran towards the controls. As we approached the other side, I noticed several PSICOM soldiers, a marauder with them. As we departed I drew my weapon, prepared to fight.


	3. Chapter 3-Remembrance

**Hello reader, Chapter 3 thanks for reading!**

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**Remembrance**

As we descended the platform, the PSICOM soldiers turned to us, weapons raised.

"Deportees are we?" said the marauder, his leadership clear from his heavy armor and Grav-Con unit, noticeable on his waist.

"Weapons down, I'd hate for this to turn ugly", he said as he drew his weapon, a three-pronged spear.

"Uhh turn ugly?" Said the man as he hesitantly drew his pistols.

"He wants to kill us without a fight." The woman snarled as she drew her gunblade.

"Time's up!" The marauder growled as he activated his Grav-Con unit and charged towards me. I parried his attack, but the marauder slammed into me, knocking me back onto my back. I quickly rose to my feet just in time to dodge yet another attack from the marauder. I quickly glanced to my companions, meeting eyes with the woman.

"I can handle this, deal with the others!" I yelled at the woman, receiving a quick nod as I turned to face the marauder.

The marauder stood there, waiting for my next move as I prepared myself. I put my left hand behind my back and assumed my dueling stance. Seeing this, the marauder began running at me.

"Submit!" He shrieked as he began his onslaught. He stabbed at me repeatedly, each attack being more fearsome than the next. I kept my stance, parrying each of his blows waiting for an opportunity to strike. My opportunity came when I noticed his change in footwork. As he struck I spun to the right, slashing off his hand in the process. I quickly dashed forward, plunging my rapier into his neck.

"Nice work kid", I heard from the man as I removed my weapon from the marauder, sheathing it.

"Uh thanks", I replied, not being used to getting complimented especially on my dueling skills.

We walked toward the controls of the bridge, the woman sheathing her weapon when the man spoke.

"So soldier", he asked. "What's your angle?"

Finally, I had been curious about the woman's intentions but I wasn't planning on confronting her. This _trio_ was only temporary until I had my chance to escape. I knew my chances were slim and even when the time came, my margin of escaping was near impossible.

After some silence the man spoke again, "Classified military info, what's the matter you quit didn't you?"

More silence. The man spoke again as he fumbled with the bridge controls.

"What, you think I'm just gonna go out and tell everybody your secret?"

"The pulse fal'cie", the woman replied coldly, glaring at the man.

"My _angle_, I'm after the fal'cie."

The man and I both stood in disbelief. Taking on PSICOM was insane enough but a fal'cie? I immediately began calculating my options. Everything we knewa bout the fal'cie is based on the ones here on Cocoon. They ruled us and provided for us. Essentially, they were our gods. Although I disagreed with all the Pulse paranoia, dealing with the unknown wasn't exactly logical. I didn't exactly have any options here, escaping alone was impossible but following the woman was _practically_ impossible. I was snapped back to attention by the woman, standing beside me as she activated the bridge controls.

"Still happy you tagged along?" said the woman as she glared up at me.

"I..uh don't know." I fumbled as the woman walked to the end of the bridge. I was taken aback by the woman. Her face when she had glared at me was foreign to me. It was like she was hoping I'd say yes, yet pushing me away at the same time. That, combined with her attractiveness which I noted was becoming somewhat of a distraction had just left me astounded.

"Didn't have a choice", the man said cryptically as he walked towards the woman. I quickly surveyed my company. They both seemed to be here with the purge due to what I guessed were personal reasons. Most of my mercenary work had me working solo. If I ever had a partner, communication would be minimal, relating only to the job. That was the only reason I was even here. A job I had taken didn't exactly work out and I wound up on the purge train though.

_Earlier that day_

As I sat waiting, I took out my notes again. My employer had assigned me to recover a friend of hers and prevent her from getting on the train. She had described her as around 5'3", red hair tied in curly pigtails with green eyes and around 19 years old. Of course I inquired as to how I was supposed to find her in the crowd. I was curtly told to talk to every red-head and find the one with a discernible accent. I had simply taking the job, needing the money. I had been here for hours, making meaningless conversation with every single red-head that I had seen with no luck. My patience was beginning to run out when I noticed something. A small, red-headed girl shuffling through the crowds.

"Excuse me, sorry excuse me." She would say as she moved her way through the crowds. I could hear the distinct accent and began making my way towards her. I noticed that she was going towards the Purge train. I quickened my pace, hoping I could catch her before she boarded the train.

"Hey man what are you doing?" A rather large man asked me. He had his hand rested on my shoulder, stopping my pursuit.

"Anxious to be purged man?" he said. I immediately toke a dislike to this man as I shrugged him off and kept moving.

"Hey, stop this you know what they're doing right?"

I turned to the man. He was about my height, his arms covered in tattoos, brown hair, wearing a tank and jeans. My dislike of him quickly grew. "What are you going on about?" I spat at him.

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, we're all getting either exiled or killed here."

I turned my head, looking for the girl. She was long gone. If this imbecile was right, I would have to find this girl fast and I wasn't sure I could get through PSICOM without problems.

"They're putting us on that train then leaving us, we might not even get past the Hanging Edge." The man continued, I quickly took in his assumption. Why would they make the citizens leave to Pulse when we don't even know anything about it? I took this as my cue to leave, dashing towards where I last saw the girl, ignoring the shouts from the man.

_Present_

I finished my train of thought. After that PSICOM noticed me running through the crowds and had asked me what I was doing. I knew that no matter what I would be stuck on the train and just went with it. After that I was led to the line and met my current companions. As the bridge began moving I walked over to look to the horizon. I noticed dozens of firefights between rebels and PSICOM. Someone had to have organised this rebellion in advance, coordination like this never just happened. I put the thought away as I walked to the man and woman.


	4. Chapter 4-Heroes

**Chapter 4, Thanks for reading!**

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__**The Heroes**

_Snow_

_"On behalf of Cocoon's citizens, I would like to thank our brave Pulse pioneers and express our best wishes for a successful relocation." "Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society." "Were it not for this remarkable gesture, every resident of Cocoon, your family, your friends, your neighbors, would be exposed to the dangers of the world below." By choosing to leave Cocoon and participating in this migration…"_

I slammed my foot on the radio in anger, destroying it completely.

"Migration, more like extermination" I said to no one in particular as I removed my boot from the radio turning to face the young man approaching me.

"Yuj, you stay here."

"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"These people need heroes!" I said reassuringly to him. He was a good kid, little uneasy most of the time but he had the heart of a true hero.

"Here," I said as I raised his gun. "You keep your cool, and they will too."

"Got it?" I said as I put my hand on his shoulder for more reassurance.

"Got it," he replied, still a hint of anxiety in his voice. I decided for one more attempt at motivating him.

"What's our motto?" I asked him.

"The army's no match for NORA!" he yelled

"Attaboy," I said with a smirk as I ruffled his hair and began climbing the pile of rubble in front of me.

I began walking down the highway passing dozens of refugees along the way. I could hear them mumbling about how they were going to die. I wouldn't let that happen. This whole situation was terrible. How could PSICOM do this? It made me angry just thinking about it. I put it aside, mostly for the refugees I couldn't let them see me like this, it would just worsen their moods.

I quickened my pace as I heard gunshots behind some more rubble as I climbed my way over it. I was met with my friends and comrades, Lebreau, Gadot and Maqui.

"Yeah and when we're taking a _dirt nap_ you can save them all!" I heard Gadot say as he fired at PSICOM soldiers.

"Aw, that's even worse!" Maqui cried as he fell onto his back. I quickly jumped down and ran into cover beside him.

"No dirt naps today, we're all in this together!" Moving Maqui back to his feet.

"Our enemy's the Cocoon Sanctum, their dreaded PSICOM no less." I said, surveying our current situation

"What's to dread?" Lebreau asked sarcastically,"PSICOM's nothing but a whole bunch of bluster and bullying, they've got nothing on NORA."

"Well, we are the heroes." Gadot added.

"Let's prove it!" I said as I jumped into a group of PSICOM soldiers, knocking one out in the process. I turned and slammed my fist into one's chest, winding him. I dodged one's knife, Lebreau finishing him off with two shots to the chest. I looked over to see the remaining few barraged by shots from Gadot and Maqui.

We ran down through the highway, taking out any PSICOM that we came across, stopping as we saw a fairly large group of them, bioweapons included.

"No more." Maqui said with a sigh as he sat down. Good kid like Yuj but incredibly lazy.

"That's a lot of PSICOM" Said Lebreau, probably the most sensible one of our group and easily the smartest.

"Yo boss, what's the plan?" Asked Gadot, my right hand man though his temper sometimes got the better of him.

"Charge in, guns blazing same as always."

"Hey that's not a plan!" Maqui said as he rose to his feet.

"Real heroes don't need plans," Lebreau said as we started our assault. I threw a grenade into the group of soldiers, killing several of them as I jumped into the fray. The pantherons charged at me, two of them being gunned down by Gadot as I ran towards the remaining one. As it jumped at me, I planted my feet and caught it mid-jump. I quickly threw it over the edge as I turned and finished off the last soldier.

"Boss that was intense!" Gadot yelled

"Eh well what can I say, heroes strength am I right?" I replied with a chuckle. We began traversing the highway again, dealing with another group of soldiers. As we finished fighting them I noticed that they were guarding refugees and began running towards them.

"You all okay?" I asked them, as I heard Maqui gathering the weapons from the fallen soldiers. He ran towards me, falling in the process.

"Careful with those." I said as he looked at me apologetically.

"Don't worry, no one's moving to Pulse today, we'll clear you a path out of here, so be ready to.."

"Wait let me fight with you, yeah you can't expect us to sit here!" Said some refugees.

"Could help?" I said to Gadot

"Yep" he replied, they would make things a lot easier but I was worried about their safety.

"Please, let us help." Said one villager, I could tell they really wanted to help.

An explosion sounded nearby, some of the villagers began to panic.

"Okay then, volunteers front and center." Several rose as Maqui and Lebreau handed them weapons. A woman approached me, she seemed to be a little older than most of the volunteers.

"You sure?" I asked her.

"Yeah, Moms are tough."


	5. Update

**Hello everyone! Just an update on my absence, I am planning more chapters, and I have a million excuses as to why I haven't updated but the bottom line is that I'm here, and more chapters are coming throughout the month. As always thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 5-Mom's are tough

**After much delay, Chapter 5! Thanks for reading!**

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_**Hope**_

"Alright last one, somebody take it!"

He began to hand it to me, this rather tall guy expected me to handle a gun, and maybe kill somebody! Me, little fourteen year old Hope. It's bad enough that my mom's fighting so I'm sure not getting into anything.

"N-no I can't" I stammered. Fantastic, now I look like an idiot in front of all of these people. I just wish this day would end.

"Here!" I looked up to see what person would be dumb enough to take the gun; I sat there looking at a petite girl. Great, even this little girl is braver than I am; I bet she's taller too.

"Push comes to shove keep 'em safe." He said it with a smile, then winked. How he can take this whole thing without freaking out is beyond me. Him and his whole gang, they're just using this to look like heroes. Until they actually _do_ something heroic, it's just annoying; and they got my mom in on it too!

"We're going home together!" He shouted a small attempt at motivation. Myself and the other refugees just sat there, unclear on what to do. This whole situation was practically a deathtrap.

"Come on!" "Everybody up!" We did as the girl told us and slowly began to rise, I saw the man run off, the refugee fighters following him. I noticed my mother stop and look at me. I tried to say something but the words wouldn't come out. Something about the look on her face, her expression just made me feel sad; it was like she was worried and sad at the same time, like she didn't expect to see me again. I abandoned the thought immediately as I was being pulled away. _Be safe mom, be sure to come back._

_**Snow**_

With our improved numbers, cutting through PSICOM troops was a walk in the park; we made our way through hordes of troops and Pantherons to be stopped by a PSICOM commander.

"Mobilize Beta force, put down the resistance!"

I could barely hear him, a troop transport roared over us and some of our new recruits gasped in shock. It wasn't due to the troops though; a Behemoth was riding the transport. Shots were fired at it but they bounced right off.

"Everybody back up!" I shouted as the beast jumped down from the transport.

"Heroes don't run from fights!" I said as the beast pounced at me, I ducked under it priming a grenade. The grenade went off, opening up areas in the beast's chest.

"Shoot there!" I said to Gadot and Lebreau as they began unloading on the Behemoth. I reeled up for another charge at me, this time it clipped me in the shoulder but my grenade still chipped off a solid chunk off of its chest. I steadied myself and charged at the beast. I threw all of my strength into its chest with a solid punch, knocking it down as Gadot and Lebreau finished it off.

I looked up to see the troop transport drop off a dozen troops. I took cover behind some debris beside the older woman from before. Gadot and some refugees began firing at the troops, pushing them back.

Three of the refugees were gunned down in an instant as the transport turned and opened fire on them. Gadot just barely moved back to cover as the shots rang through the air.

"Snow, we got trouble!" he shouted to me

"Yeah, no kidding." I looked ahead and saw an RPG lying on the ground. I had just one chance to get this, I had to protect these people it's what a hero does!

"Stay down!" I yelled as I vaulted over debris towards the RPG. I dove towards it, just dodging some shots from the transport as I grabbed it, but my grip wasn't good enough and it tumbled back to the ground. I slammed onto my back, looking up at my imminent death. _This is it? Not a hero's death and not even a goodbye to Serah._

A loud _thump_ rang out and I saw a rocket plunge into the transport, disabling it. I looked back to see the older woman, clutching the RPG. She dropped it as she bent down to help me up.

"I told you didn't it?" "Moms are tough." She said it with a smile and I couldn't help but grin as I rose to my feet.

The next thing I heard was a loud _bang_ and several refugees dropped dead. The explosion knocked the woman onto me and as I got up, I saw that the bridge was beginning to collapse. I could see so many people sliding, falling towards their deaths. _I was supposed to protect them, that's what heroes do._

Suddenly, the area of bridge that I was on surged downwards, beginning to collapse. I just barely caught the woman as I held on for dear life.

"Get him home, please." She said as her grip began to fade. I had to save her, I could feel her beginning to slip. She looked up at me, smiled, closed her eyes and let go.


End file.
